Europe has long cast an envious eye towards the US and its low-cost post-trade environment. If Europe could only cut the expense of cross-border clearing and settlement to a comparable level, goes the argument, the impact on market volumes, liquidity, capital-raising opportunities and subsequent economic growth would be profound.

The problem has always been how to generate those efficiencies. So, when the US Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation and LCH.Clearnet Group announced last October they had signed non-binding heads of terms for a proposed merger it seemed an important step in the right direction.